Heino given Sevens honour in Samoa

Updated: September 8, 2015

HTS Daniel Pienaar Grade 12 scholar Heino Bezuidenhout has been named captain of Team South Africa Rugby Sevens at the Commonwealth Youth Games being held in Apia, Samoa.

Bezuidenhout, who hails from Uitenage in the Eastern Cape, debuted for his schools first XV at the age of 16. He represented the Eastern Province Craven Week side in 2014 and 2015 while in Grade 11 and 12, the 2014 team going on to win the competition. He has also represented the SA Schools team in Grade 11 and 12.

Choosing Bezuidenhout as the captain was not a hard choice according to sevens coach Marius Schoeman. ‘Heino is the captain of his first team at school, he was also the vice-captain of the eastern province Craven Week team and when we arrived in Johannesburg at the holding camp, we chose a leadership group with a captain only being chosen in Samoa,’ said Schoeman. ‘He is a good communicator, well respected by his team mates and most importantly leads by example and has a fantastic work ethic.’

‘It’s an honour to be here in Samoa with a great bunch of guys as part of Team SA, and it’s an even bigger honour being asked to captain the team. I pride myself on my work ethic and will not ask anyone to do anything that I would not do myself, said Bezuidenhout. My aim is to make my country, my family and myself proud and can’t wait for our competition to start.

Rugby sevens kicks off their Commonwealth quest for gold on Wednesday with their opening match against Singapore, followed by matches against neighbours Namibia and England as they look to progress to the semi-finals and finals.